


Let Me Tell You What It's Like to Be a Zero

by baloobird



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Humiliation, Hurt/Comfort, Inaccurate Justice System Rules, Inaccurate School Rules, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 14:06:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16812148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baloobird/pseuds/baloobird
Summary: Flash's bullying goes too far, and Peter doesn't know how he will recover.Luckily, he has his mentor by his side who will do anything for his kid.





	Let Me Tell You What It's Like to Be a Zero

**Author's Note:**

> You can pry humiliation whump from my cold, dead hands XD
> 
> Title is from an Imagine Dragons song
> 
> This is inspired by a scene from a soap opera I used to watch.
> 
> Enjoy!!!

If there’s one thing that Peter can agree with most of the teenagers in the world, is that he hates gym class.

Seriously, who actually _wants_ a million foam balls chucked at them for fun? Just because they’re made of foam, it doesn’t mean that they don’t hurt.

The guy who invented dodgeball must’ve had a death wish.

Yes, his spidey sense would make this game more tolerable, but right now he’s Peter Parker, not Spider-Man. Spider-Man could win this game outright with his quick reflexes, no doubt; but Peter Parker is still a scrawny kid who seems to be allergic to anything athletic.

So Peter Parker, he stays.

And this class is especially annoying today because Flash and his friends seem to have made Peter their primary target, for nothing else except their own enjoyment.

Peter lets out a defeated sigh. If only Ned were here instead of home sick; at least he’d have someone to suffer along with him. He’s holding one ball in each hand, intending to use them as shields in preparation for the inevitable cascade of blue and yellow foam.

“Aww, come on, Penis Parker. Too afraid of a ‘wittle’ game? At least humor us.”

Peter knows what Flash is doing, and it won’t work this time. He’s not going to get angry and let the shit-talking get to him. Instead, he’ll just take the high road and ride out the last ten minutes of the class.

“Such a shame that your fat-ass boyfriend isn’t here to be your shield this time. I’m surprised he can still fit through the gym doors, to be honest.”

Peter jerks up with an angry expression. He’s squeezing the dodgeballs so tight that they might burst in two. Him getting picked on by Flash is nothing new, he deals with it, it’s whatever, 

But Flash just insulted his best friend, and Ned’s not even here to defend himself.

_Fuck this “high road” bullshit._

Peter takes aim right at Flash’s face and throws one of the balls with a little more force than a superhero disguised as a scrawny teenager probably should have.

But the satisfaction of seeing Flash yelp in shock and pain far outweighs any guilt.

Flash gives him a death glare as he sits down at the bleachers, to which Peter just responds with a smug grin.

The dodgeballs looked as if they’ve multiplied over the course of the last five minutes because now there seems to be an endless stream of them being thrown at Peter, like Flash’s cronies are avenging his “death.”

Again, using the balls as shields, Peter avoids one after the other, and even throws another one that hits a kid’s back before Coach Wilson calls time and ushers everyone to the showers.

 _Fucking finally._ Everyone rushes off to their respective locker rooms, with Flash purposely bumping into Peter and mouthing “You’re dead” before joining the fray. Peter just rolls his eyes at the intimidation attempt. It’s not like Flash can actually do anything.

Peter is one of the last in the locker room, which means that all of the showers are already occupied. He just sighs and sits down at a bench to wait. He’d rather wait and shower in the privacy of his own home, but he has more classes after this and doesn’t want to smell like a sweaty sock for the rest of the day.

A couple of minutes later, someone steps out of a shower and Peter quickly takes his place. He drapes a towel over the curtain rod and places his bag with his now dirty gym clothes on the floor outside the curtain.

After his shower, Peter walks out in his towel to find that he is the only one left in the locker room.

 _It couldn’t have been_ that _long of a shower._

He bends down to pick to pick up his bag only to find that it’s not there. That’s...odd, but maybe someone took his bag by mistake. He walks to his locker to get his clean clothes only to find that his locker is already open.

And completely empty.

Panic starts to set in.

His clothes are gone.

 _His. Clothes. Are. Fucking. Gone._

He desperately starts looking all over the locker room for his clothes, for _any_ clothes that he can wear.

After making a loop around the room, the spiderling finally spots his shirt on the floor. As he picks up the shirt, he sees one of his socks about a foot away, close to the door. Then he spots one of his shoes directly next to the door.

It’s like someone left his clothes on the floor to form a "rabbit trail" that leads out the door.

A new wave of anxiety washes over him and he starts breathing heavily.

_It’s a trap._

Someone set up a trap that is forcing Peter to walk out in nothing but a towel. And he knows exactly who that someone is.

_Fuckity. Fucking. Flash._

He starts looking desperately at the lockers, hoping that someone left their gym clothes that he can wear. Even someone else’s smelly clothes are better than none. But Flash thought this through; there’s nothing here.

He sits down on a bench, puts his head in his hands, and tries to think. He can’t call anyone, his phone is in his bag, along with his watch, so contacting Tony or May is a no-go. Ned’s not here, so he can’t just yell for him to bring his clothes.

What the fuck else is there?

He’s about 95% certain that he’s late for his next class.

Wait, that’s it. Everyone should be back in class, so there shouldn’t be anyone in the gym at this point...right?

He takes advantage of his enhanced hearing and strains his ears to listen to any commotion.

He hears murmurs...Flash and his gang are waiting for him. Peter wants to stall for as long as possible, but he’s just delaying the inevitable...he has to go out there.

He waits another minute to work up the courage and then finally opens the door. As expected, the "rabbit trail" continues down the hallway and through the gym doors around the corner. He picks up each article of clothing that he comes across, which are his other shoe, belt, and other sock, respectively.

He’s picking up his undershirt that’s near the doorway to the actual gymnasium when he feels his spidey sense tingle.

_Possible danger._

After swallowing a lump in his throat, he makes his way through the gym doors.

As predicted, Flash is there...along with nine of his friends all standing in a semicircle staring at Peter with victorious faces. They start laughing the second he walks in and one already has her phone out filming.

Peter spots the last of his things that's on the floor, his phone, towards the center of said semicircle.

They’re forcing him to get closer to them.

Flash is standing in the middle of the pack, holding Peter’s jeans and boxers while the gym bag sits open next to him (thank God he didn’t bring his suit today).

The teen brings his clothes to his chest and takes in a shaky breath to try and remain calm, but all he’s feeling is embarrassment and rage. 

“G-Give me b-b-back my clothes, Flash.”

Of course he has to start stuttering now.

“Aww, hear that, guys? P-P-Penis P-P-P-Parker wants his clothes back.”

Everyone bursts out laughing as if Flash’s jokes could win awards.

Peter can feel his face getting redder by the second. How can he get out of this? He may be a genius, but all his mind is doing is blanking. He decides to try again, slower this time to hopefully prevent stuttering, “Give. Me. B-Back. My. Clothes.”

“Ooh, I’m _so_ scared, you’re so _scary_.”

Peter snaps back, “If this is about the stupid d-dodgeball game, then f-f-fine, you win. Now _please_ , give me back my clothes!”

The punks continue laughing and jeering at him while he just stands there frozen on the spot.

“Why would you want your clothes back, anyway? Does _every_ shirt you own have some lame pun on it?”

“Didya get these jeans from a thrift shop or did you dumpster dive for them because garbage is all you can afford?”

“You are such a waste of space, Parker.”

And on and on it goes.

His spidey sense has gotten so intense that he has formed sharp goosebumps and starts involuntarily shivering.

After another minute of taunts, someone finally grows a conscience, “C’mon, Flash, we’ve had our fun. Let’s go before someone catches us.”

 _Yeah, and speaking of teachers, where the_ fuck _is Coach Wilson?_

“She’s right, man, we’re all supposed to be in class right now.”

Peter uses this brief opportunity to pick up his phone off the floor.

Since his spidey sense has been flaring continuously throughout the whole scene, he doesn’t realize that someone is coming up behind him. The kid then snatches Peter’s towel off of him.

Peter feels the breeze against the lower half of his body and quickly covers his front with his shirts. He feels himself locking up. His heart starts racing and he’s trying his hardest to breathe, but he _can’t fucking breathe_.

On top of being naked, he’s also about to have a panic attack in front of everyone.

His vision starts to blur slightly while he gets his breathing under control, making sure to do what Tony has told him to do in the past.

_Breathe in, count to four, then hold._

_Breathe out, count to four._

_Focus on an object in the room._

Peter focuses on his gym bag. It’s black, the zipper’s open, he sees his jacket inside, along with his gym shirt and deodorant and _breathe breathe breathe_.

After a few seconds, everything slowly starts to come into focus again.

He sees everyone laughing, hollering, high-fiving each other, and the like. More phones are out, and he’s wincing at the seemingly endless amount of flashes.

“Oh my God, he’s _naked_.”

“You’re not gonna show us your namesake, Penis?”

“Is he _crying_? He’s actually crying like a little baby.”

Peter hadn’t even realized that he’s crying. He’s too busy focusing on breathing, not exposing himself, and trying to tune out the vicious taunts. But he hears every single one.

“Does your diaper need be changed, _baby_?”

“And people actually believe that he interns for Tony Stark?”

“Why would Tony Stark ever hire _him_ , he’s worthless. I’m surprised his aunt still keeps him around.” 

It’s horrifying. _Humiliating_. There’s not any worse words to describe it.

How is ever going to show his face back at this school?

Finally, an unspoken wish has been granted.

“Guys, someone’s coming!”

Flash chucks the jeans and boxers at Peter before he and the other kids race out the back door of the gym.

Peter dives for his gym bag and races back to the locker room before anyone else sees him. He actually lets out a small sigh of relief when he finally puts his clothes on.

He curls up in a corner in one of the showers and tries to calm himself down, but he can’t. His breathing is still a little ragged and tears are streaming down his face. He can’t go to his classes, he _can’t_. Everyone will know about what happened before the next bell even rings.

And he’s deathly afraid to check any of his social media accounts.

_Worthless. Pathetic. Waste of space._

He wants to go home. He wants someone to tell him that he’s not those things, because he knows he's not those things, but his brain wants him to believe that he is those things and _breathe breathe breathe_.

He can’t call May; being a nurse, she can’t just up and leave her shift.

But Tony.

He can call Tony.

He can’t think of anywhere else in the world that he wants to be right now except in Tony’s lab, watching his hero work on a project with his robots standing by.

Still a bit sniffly, he gets out his phone and after a second’s hesitation, he calls Tony.

Tony picks up at the third ring, “Hey, kiddo...why are you calling me, shouldn’t you be in school? You’re not out Spider-Manning, are you?”

Peter relaxes a little at the sound of Tony’s voice. He doesn’t know why he whispers, but his words come out like that, “N-No. No, I’m not.”

Tony hears the shakiness in his voice and it worries him, “What happened, what’s wrong?”

“Um...c-can - can you p-pick me up? Please?”

“Kid, you’re scaring me, what’s going on? Are you hurt, did somebody hurt you?”

God, he wishes that he was hurt. He’d much rather take a beating than what actually happened. Unfortunately, this type of hurt can’t be cured with his healing factor.

“I-I really, really, d-don’t wanna say o-over the phone.”

Tony notices the stuttering. Peter normally only stutters when his anxiety goes out of whack or he’s excited about something. And he sounds the furthest from excited.

What the fuck happened to his kid?

“Does May know?”

“No. Sh-She’s at work. I don’t wanna b-bother her, p-please don’t bother her, M-Mr. Stark.”

“Okay, okay, that’s fine, I was just asking. I can be there in ten minutes, max. That okay, kid?”

“But it’s like a 30-minute drive.”

Tony smirks, “Kid, you _do_ know who you’re talking to, right? Don’t worry about how I get there, just know that I’ll be there in ten minutes or less.”

Peter lets out a half smile. Only Tony could lift his mood in a situation like this.

“T-Thank you so much, Mr-Mr. Stark. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, kid. Get your stuff together.”

Tony ends the call and Peter looks at the time on his phone. There’s still 15 minutes of class left, so he’ll be able to go grab his backpack and hightail it out of the school before anyone sees him.

After making sure any gym newcomers won’t see him, Peter leaves the place and books it to his locker. He then gets his things and barely avoids a hall monitor before exiting through a side entrance. The teen leans against the side of the building and waits anxiously for Tony to arrive.

Tony pulls up in one of his more inconspicuous cars, a black Jeep. How in the world Tony got here in less than ten minutes, he’ll never know, but he’s never been so grateful to see him.

Tony wasn’t even at a full stop when Peter flies to the car and jumps in. They exchange greetings as the kid gets settled in, and Tony is about to ask if he needs to sign him out when he takes a good look at the spider-boy.

He looks like shit.

His curls are all messy, his eyes are rimmed red, and tear tracks are still noticeable on him.

Tony feels his blood boil and swallows a lump in his throat to keep calm. He forgets all about signing Peter out of class and instead books it to the tower.

Peter doesn’t say another word during the whole drive and his gaze doesn’t stray from his hands in his lap.

Tony wants to initiate conversation, but he doesn’t know how. Where’s that babbling, hyperactive kid that he knows and loves?

After what feels like a million years, they finally arrive at the tower. They go to the lab - Peter’s safe haven - in silence. Once inside, Peter curls up on the couch and wraps his hands around his knees.

Tony has no idea what to do.

“Hey kid, want anything to eat, chips or a sandwi-”

“‘M not hungry.”

Tony raises his eyebrows in surprise. This kid, who has to eat three times as much as the average human, _isn’t_ hungry.

Whatever happened must’ve been _huge_.

As much as Tony desperately wants to know what happened, he can’t help but relish in these final moments of ignorant bliss. Whatever happened, it doesn’t sound like it’s anything simple like failing a test or getting detention.

Once he knows, he can never _unknow_.

Tony sits down next to Peter and waits patiently for him to say something.

Peter knows he needs to tell him. It’s better to tell him now than him finding out later. But he finds himself clamming up and his face is getting red all over again.

The billionaire decides to break the ice, “Whatever it is, kid, I won’t be mad, but I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on. Why did you skip class and beg me to pick you up?”

Peter lets out a shaky breath and tries to compose himself. His knees are still up to his chest and he refuses to look in Tony’s direction; the story will already be mortifying enough without seeing his mentor’s reaction.

“I-It’s just...kids, man. Kids just suck, y’know?”

Tony doesn’t say anything, he just waits ever so patiently for Peter to continue. At least the stuttering has gone down.

“We-We were playing dodgeball in P.E. today. Flash was being his normal, stupid self. I always ignore him, I _always_ ignore him. B-But then he starts talking shit about Ned a-and I couldn’t just stand there and not defend him, right?”

“Right.” _Who the fuck names their kid Flash?_

“So I threw a dodgeball at him. That’s all it was, a fucking dodgeball.”

“Kid, I’m sorry, but you’re losing me with all this dodgeball talk.”

“R-Right, sorry.” Tony notices that Peter’s voice is getting smaller as he continues the story. "Um...so afterwards we go into the locker room to shower. By the time I got out of the shower, I was the only one left in the room. So I-I go to my locker to get my clothes, and...and….”

Peter leans his head on his knees. He doesn’t want to say it, he really doesn’t want to say it. But then he feels a comforting hand rubbing up and down his back which could only belong to Tony. He takes in another breath before he continues.

“T-They weren’t t-there, Mr. S-Stark. My clothes were gone.”

Tony’s hand stills.

“What?” Tony asks in such a low voice that anyone without enhanced hearing probably wouldn’t have heard him.

“Someone t-t-took my clothes.”

Tony’s hand moves and tightens around Peter’s shoulder, using it both as a form of comfort and for keeping his newfound anger in check.

“A-And…”

_Oh shit, he’s not even done._

“A-And I couldn’t find any clothes to wear, but then I found some of my clothes forming a trail of ‘breadcrumbs’ out the door...I had to follow the trail, Mr. Stark.”

Tony can already predict what’s going to happen and he feels nausea forming in his stomach.

“I get to the gym and there’s Flash, holding my jeans, and his friends, all waiting for me.”

Peter’s breathing starts to hitch up.

“They were laughing, like they just pulled the greatest trick of the decade. I begged for Flash to give me back my clothes, I _begged_. But then…”

He lets out a sob against his knees.

“Oh shit.” Tony moves closer to Peter and wraps his arm around the kid’s shoulders. Peter immediately leans closer into Tony’s side.

“S-S-Someone p-p-p-pulled the towel off me.”

Tony has been angry and shocked at a lot of things in his life...but none compare to how he feels about this. He is _furious_. Who the fuck would do something like this? He wants to track down every one of these assholes and give them all hell.

Well...his reassurance about not being mad had turned out to be a complete lie.

But Peter is his top priority right now. The kid now has his head buried into his mentor’s chest and is getting his shirt wet with tears. Tony represses all of the anger he has and instead holds the kid and soothes him with soft shushing sounds, making sure that his hand holds Peter’s curls in just the right places.

“Just let it out, kid. I’m so sorry you had to go through all that.”

The teen’s voice comes out in mumbles through Tony’s shirt, “I’ve never felt so humiliated, all I wanted to do was just crawl under a rock and _die_. They took so many pictures, someone even filmed it.”

A new spark of rage filtered through Tony, “They took pictures...and videos of you...naked…?” He feels Peter’s head nod on his chest.

Tony takes a deep breath. How is he going to fix this? He’s Tony Stark, he can fix anything, but once they post those pictures online...there’s no going back (and that’s assuming they haven’t already). 

God, who wakes up one morning and thinks that it’s a fun idea to do this to someone? And to Peter, selfless, smart, wonderful Peter, of all people?

Those punks will find out that they messed with the wrong kid.

Peter’s cries have finally calmed down to just sniffles, but he’s still leaning against Tony’s chest as if he were a pillow. Tony has no plans on moving.

“Mr. Stark...how can I go back to school? How am I gonna face them?”

“I don’t know yet, buddy, but trust me, I’ll think of something, alright?” 

“I’m-I’m scared.”

Tony squeezes him tighter against his side, resulting in Peter turning and leaning into him entirely, complete with his knees resting on Tony’s thighs. “I know, kiddo. I would be too if I were in your shoes. Don’t worry, I’ll fix this.”

“But how?”

Now that, is a very good question.

\---

After another ten minutes or so of silence and comfort, the stress of the day finally gets to Peter and he falls asleep against Tony’s chest.

Tony gently lays him down on the couch and puts a blanket over him before sitting at one of his lab tables.

“FRIDAY, have there been any pictures or videos of Peter posted online recently?”

"Other than the ones that he himself posted of his science fair last week, I have detected at least five videos posted, along with at least 20 pictures over the last hour."

Tony rubs his forehead in despair, “Jesus...play the video, but just on my laptop.”

The last thing on this earth that Tony wants to do is watch Peter be completely humiliated, but in order to fix this, he has to know what he’s dealing with. He watches the video with headphones on so it won’t wake the kid. As he’s watching, he notices how much Peter sugarcoated the story. The kid didn’t mention the cruel, vile insults and names they called him, or that he almost had a fucking _panic attack_. He’ll do whatever it takes to get that kid’s confidence back up again.

Tony watches the whole video with anger and pity welling in his chest. God, he wants to chuck every single one of these assholes off the roof of the tower. He gets caught off guard when the video ends and a Grammarly ad plays.

Wait a minute, an ad is playing.

These little shits are making _money_ off of his kid’s pain. How the fuck do these kids sleep at night?

Using his fury as motivation, the gears start turning in the mechanic’s head and he gets to work.

\----

Tony has FRIDAY track down the IP addresses from the videos and pictures that were posted the earliest; he makes an educated guess that those could’ve been posted by the culprits. 

Tony then spends the next couple of hours talking to people from Facebook, Twitter, and Google to get them to take down any and all pictures and videos of the incident. If someone were to give him a hard time, the billionaire would just simply threaten to buy the company and fire them and anyone else that gets in his way. They always cooperate after that, because he _does_ have the money to do so.

For each phone call, he stresses that these people who are putting ads in the videos _do not get paid_. He’s even said that he will personally pay those sponsors the difference if that’s what it takes.

Despite all of this, Tony knows that this is an impossible task. There’s no telling how many people were sent the videos or the pictures, and how many more will post them on their page or channel. 

That’s the true cruelty of the Internet, nothing ever truly goes away. 

But if he can at least stop the culprits from reaping the benefits of his kid’s pain, then he knows that his work is accomplished. 

Tony then calls May, he can’t bear the thought of her finding out whilst online. After a furious and upsetting ten-minute phone call, May ends the conversation with “Give them hell.” 

And give them hell, he’ll do nothing less. 

Peter wakes up starving. After he inhales a couple of sandwiches, Tony has him give the names of everyone involved. He sees the determined look in Tony’s eyes and hesitates, but for only a second. 

“Just...just don’t kill them? Please?” 

Tony ruffles the teen’s curls in fondness, “Kid, trust me. When I’m done, they’ll wish I killed them.” 

Peter’s eyes widen and he gives a tentative grin. “Thank you, Mr. Stark...for everything.” 

“Don’t mention it, kid, I got your back. I can’t leave my favorite intern hanging out to dry now, can I?” 

Peter responds to that sentiment by leaning into Tony’s side, taking full advantage of this “curls massage” that his hero is currently giving him. 

God, if this kid were to ask for the whole world, Tony’s sure that he’d move hell or high water to make sure he gets it. 

\---- 

Peter, understandably so, doesn’t want to go to school the next day, so he spends it at the tower while May is at work. Ned is feeling better, but still not 100%, so Tony has Happy bring him to the tower to keep Peter company. 

__Despite him being the sick one, Ned seems to be just the medicine that Peter needed. Through them playing video games or watching Netflix, his friend is determined to be the perfect distraction._ _

Tony tells them that he’s going out to run a few errands and that he’ll be back in a bit. Peter gives him a sly smile, to which Tony replies with a wink, confirming the webslinger’s suspicions. 

\---- 

After Peter gave Tony the culprits’ names, he had FRIDAY call the head of the school, Principal Morita, and he explained why Peter had skipped school. Once the initial shock of realizing that he is talking to _the_ Tony Stark wore off, the principal said that he’s overheard students in the hallway mumbling something of this nature and was appalled that it’s all actually true. 

Which brings Tony to Midtown High. He and Morita have scheduled a meeting with the ten students and their parents. He walks into the classroom like he owns the place and smirks when he sees everyone’s jaws drop to the floor. 

_Oh, this will be fun._

Tony leans against the teacher’s desk and faces group with a shit-eating grin on his face, “I assume that you guys know why we’re here.” 

Some of the parents look confused, like they don’t know why their kid is in trouble. But most look either embarrassed or furious or both. Seeing these parents that look almost as angry as Tony feels, it does make him feel slightly better. 

Tony’s look turns serious, “For anyone here who for some reason still doesn't know by now, my intern, Peter Parker, has been a victim of a cruel act of bullying by your kids sitting here today. They took his clothes, took pictures and videos of him naked, and as a final ‘fuck you’ to the kid, posted them all over the Internet. And before you say, ‘My kid would never do a thing like that,’ just know that Peter gave me these names himself, and I trust that kid with my life.” 

Most of the parents look at their kids in such disappointment, while a few look at them in shock; those must be the ones that didn’t think their kid could do something so cruel. A few of the kids, to Tony’s satisfaction, look down in guilt, and he overhears one kid whisper, “Holy shit, he wasn’t lying about that?” 

The kid that Tony now recognizes as Flash speaks up, “Where’s Peter?” 

“At home. He said he’d rather jump off of Avengers Tower than come to school today and look at you guys again. Can’t say as I blame him, I’ve known you for all of two minutes and I already can’t stand looking at ya.” 

Kids and parents alike shift in their seats in anxiety. 

“So, yeah, I really don’t wanna stay here any longer than I have to, so I’ll just say the last of my two cents: each and every one of your kids are getting expelled.” 

The whole room explodes in uproar; parents scrambling to defend their kids like, “She just stood there, it wasn’t _her_ fault he was naked,” or “It wasn’t _my_ kid’s idea.” 

_Blah, blah, blah._

Over all the commotion, Tony could hear the father of the kid that swiped the towel say, “Oh c’mon, it was just a little horsing around. They were just joking! Y’know, boys wi-” 

“I swear to God, if you say ‘boys will be boys’, I will shove your head clean through this marker board. And don’t forget that girls were also present, so that line is a load of bullshit.” 

Morita gets everyone to calm down and then turns to Tony, “I cannot give everyone expulsions, Mr. Stark. For some of these kids, this is their first offense; I’m not expelling anyone over their first offense.” 

“You do realize, Mr. Morita, that I could have these kids arrested for child pornography, right?” 

Everyone freezes and the room gets so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. 

“Yup, even though they’re minors, themselves, they can still be arrested for it. They probably still have evidence on their phones ‘cuz they’re too stupid to delete them after they posted them and showed them off to their little friends for a good laugh.” 

The mechanic ignores the offended looks from the parents and almost laughs at seeing the kids scramble to delete everything from their phones. 

“Didya really think that I didn’t document your accounts and channels before I had your crap deleted? And no one is getting paid, by the way, so forget that right now. So if I were you, I’d be thanking me, honestly. Expulsion is a gift compared to juvy.” 

More uproar ignites and Morita rushes up to Tony in the hopes to change his mind, “Tony, I cannot in good conscience do that. Some of these kids...they’re good kids; they just made a mistake, an _awful_ mistake, but their one mistake doesn’t deserve this.” 

Tony pretends to think it over before responding, “I understand where you’re coming from, I do. But you didn’t see what I saw. You didn’t see a kid who was so unbelievably hurt that he didn’t want to come to school today. He didn’t want to face these people and who could blame him? You’re trying to make me feel sympathy for these kids, but it ain’t working, pal. Do you realize how bad this will look towards the school? If these kids just get by with a simple suspension, not only will this open up to possibly something worse down the line, but parents will not send their kids to a school where they don’t think that their kids will feel safe. But, hey, it’s your call, Teach. And please, keep in mind about how much money I have donated towards this school, and how much of an _influencer_ I can be towards the public.” Tony says that last comment with a smirk on his face. 

Morita’s mouth has now formed a thin line and he scratches his neck whilst deep in thought. “How about a compromise? This is the first offense for three of the students, so I keep their punishment for them at a suspension. The other seven, the ones with repeated offenses, are expelled.” 

Everyone waits with bated breath. 

“Which three?” 

Morita points to them. When Tony sees that neither Flash nor the towel-swiper kid whose name he never cared to remember are a part of that three, he makes his decision. 

“Deal.” 

\---- 

When Tony gets back, he sees that Ned was sent back home, and Peter is sitting on the couch waiting anxiously for him. 

Peter stands up just when his hero walks out of the elevator and starts asking a million and one questions. 

Tony gives the kid a fond smile and guides him over to the couch. Peter sits right next to him, so close that their thighs are touching. Tony then goes into the long, dramatic tale of how he got seven kids expelled in less than two hours. 

By the end of the story, Peter is bug-eyed in shock. He’ll never see seven of them ever again, he’ll never see _Flash_ ever again. His brain is working overtime to process this new information. 

“So….so everything will be ok?” 

Tony turns and looks right into Peter’s eyes. He gives the softest smile that Peter’s ever seen him use and says, “Everything’s gonna be okay, bud.” 

Peter leans against Tony’s chest and gives him a hug while chanting, “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou….” 

Tony reciprocates the hug, “Don’t mention it, kid. You’re worth it and then some...and don’t you ever forget it.” 

Peter smiles as he squeezes back harder, “With you here...I never will.” 

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be, it's longer than both of my other fics combined aaaaaahhhhh
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you think!!
> 
> Scream at me on tumblr @baloobird


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